If i could like this for how similar my year is going, I would.I just reached fall break, but 2 of my midterms have to be done over break, and 2 more right after break ends. Normally that'd be fine, except they're extensively dry research project/midterms. So I'll be busy whether or not cleaning/fixing house keeps me busy.I do poke on here when I can though~If you haven't reached them yet, good luck on midterms this year. It's turning out to be a challenging year for a lot of people I know, including myself.

ShadowsMyst wrote:Does it count when you are on the other side of the classroom?

I'm teaching again this year, in addition to my regular full time job. 13 hour days... ughn...

Oooh that sounds awful. I mean, the whole point of being in the "real world" as I see it is that you work 9-5 and THAT'S IT. No extra work time, aka hw time and such. How long will you be teaching for?

~Reach for the moon, because if you miss, at least you'll be among the stars.If this sig looks blue to you, you are moving towards your screen to fast*Physics humor, couldn't help myself*

Suicidal Lady wrote:Oooh that sounds awful. I mean, the whole point of being in the "real world" as I see it is that you work 9-5 and THAT'S IT.

That's sarcasm... right? Cuz I had OODLES more time as a student than I ever have in my working life. Only a tiny TINY fraction of the people I know have ever worked a "9-5" job. And they were all government/civil-service/public sector jobs. Most of the people I know these days are working 9-12 hour days, mandatory overtime to fill in for staffing shortages, because employers are too cheap to hire proper staff or the quality people just aren't there. And some work REALLY shit shifts. like 8pm - 3 am kind of shitty. And then they get like... wed/thursday off. No weekends. No holidays. No paid sick leave. It seems that you either drown in work, or you don't get any at all these days. I know when I worked in retail, the concept of 9-5 was alien to me. No one worked 9-5 cept maybe extremely high up general managers.

Most of the 'career' folk I know also have to do professional development, keep up on current trends, and attend professional association functions when they aren't at work. Although admittedly, the conferences can be fun, as can the dinners. Expensive, time consuming, but fun. Especially if you actually LIKE what you do for a living.

For teaching, I have to do a fuckton of prep work, reading, understanding, and figuring out what materials I can use to teach, and finding enough of them, authoring some of them, then creating the course work hand outs to the students and interpreting the complex stuff into simple enough chunks they can be digested in a short period of time. I only get paid for 5 hours of prep (in addition to the actually teaching hours). But in reality, I probably do more like 20-30 hours of prep, particularly in years where they do software updates. Because I have to revise EVERYTHING. And that's not including marking time. You might have to do the work, but believe me, its FAR more tedious to mark 20 projects than having to do one. Having now been on both sides of the desk, I have a lot of respect for teachers who excel at their profession.

At times, I have considered, taking a leave for a year and going back to school.. for a break.

I totally see that in my uni. The teachers here have to hold Phd's in whatever they're teaching, and even the ones who have tenure are still mandated to do active research and post reports on their progress or just publish their results to the field every few years to show that they're staying current with today's standards to teach. It's no wonder their office hours are so slim, what with all the prep work and side-projects they have on their hands....For now I guess, I just wished they'd let us study in the Law school...Since it's the shiniest building on campus(newest), you kind of feel at home studying there, as opposed to a random classroom or lounge since they close the musty library at 12am. It's interesting to see how environmental settings affect psychological perception and retention of information sometimes.

I'm a seasonal worker, so my hours vary depending on the job. Typically those jobs are field tech positions that have me backpacking somewhere for 8-12 hours a day.

Currently I'm a graduate student at the University of Idaho. Classes in the winter, data collection in the summer season. Just trying to get my thesis done now so no classes. Stressful and I seem to be finding every little distraction I can find. Netflix is evil by the way. I've got to get cracking if I want to finish before the semester is over. Don't want to spend another $1000 for a one credit semester with no classes.

Suicidal Lady wrote:Oooh that sounds awful. I mean, the whole point of being in the "real world" as I see it is that you work 9-5 and THAT'S IT.

That's sarcasm... right? Cuz I had OODLES more time as a student than I ever have in my working life. Only a tiny TINY fraction of the people I know have ever worked a "9-5" job. And they were all government/civil-service/public sector jobs. Most of the people I know these days are working 9-12 hour days, mandatory overtime to fill in for staffing shortages, because employers are too cheap to hire proper staff or the quality people just aren't there. And some work REALLY shit shifts. like 8pm - 3 am kind of shitty. And then they get like... wed/thursday off. No weekends. No holidays. No paid sick leave. It seems that you either drown in work, or you don't get any at all these days. I know when I worked in retail, the concept of 9-5 was alien to me. No one worked 9-5 cept maybe extremely high up general managers.

Makes me glad I forsook my entire education and business background and went for a blue collar trades job. 11 hour workdays (usually less), 7 days on, 7 days off, crazy good benefits and retirement stuff. The sort of money I would have had to bust my ass for 15 years and been lucky to even think about making before. I do not miss sitting in an office, I do not miss fluorescent lighting for a whole day, I do not miss sitting on my ass.

I do miss access to a microwave on a consistent basis though. I love me a warm sammich with melted cheese and hot meat...

I wish the world would have better prepared us young folk for the realities of the world out there after education. Really felt..deceived and outright lied to about how a good education was the surefire path to a good job with good pay.